Excerpt From The Mad Scholar's Wall—

I hate the elves. I understand them and can admit now that what they have done was necessary, but the hate still burns inside me.

Now It is all too obvious. My memory never lies.

We, the remnants of the decimated 1st Legion, who were as mentally broken — if not more so — than the legion itself, marched off for another battle. We numbered little more than a full cohort but with a mess of pieces.

The only thing we should have done was slump to the dirt at the base of the monument for our… "Great victory."

I was not there from the first clash to the last in the battle of the Gauntlet. There were a few that were, though. And that was enough fighting for the rest of my life.

Those who were there for it all should have never wanted to pick up a sword again. And yet we all picked up our weapons and marched with the elves.

That was all we did. We did not look and grab supplies. There was no message to Olimpia to tell them we were alive and marching with the elves.

After one day of grief, we were ready to throw our lives into a harsher battle. And now, as I look back, I know it was not our choice.

And yet my hate can never burst into flames because I understand and pity the elves for the choices they were forced to make.

For what they did to themselves.

**********

My mind descended into blinding pain. I could not tell if my eyes were open, but I didn't see the blackness of my eyelids, only white flashes.

I existed in that state for what felt like years, years where I could do nothing but embrace the pain.

Then the pain lessened, or I adapted to it, and I was able to focus on the internal energy raging inside. The mental energy was surging back and forth across my body, causing muscle spasms and jabs of pain.

Even as I watched the energy, it was calming down. I reached out with my mind, bracing myself to wrangle it back under control.

As soon as I touched the mental energy, it stilled and seemed… eager. Like it was waiting for a command. I hardly even had to exert my will upon it before I was able to pull it back to my head from where it scattered all over my body, which was lucky because my will was not at its strongest at the moment.

Within a moment, I pulled all the energy back into my mind and used the energy to enhance it once more.

When the numb calmness enveloped my mind, my eyes popped open, and I could hear my surroundings again.

"Fucking bitch," I muttered to the stifled laughing coming from the far end of the cage.

"Are you okay, Instructor?" Asked Sathera, leaning over me, eyes brown eyes filled with concern.

"Yeah, I'm good now. Not sure what happened…" I said, eyeing the cage in suspicion.

"It's the cage," Celeste said, not quite getting her laughter under control as it filled her voice, "whenever one of us touches the bars or reaches past them with a psy strand, it will disrupt their energy. It's like when your limb falls asleep and becomes all tingly when the blood rushes back. Yeah, the rest of us feel like that on our whole body, combined with a punch to the gut. Knock us down for a moment but not that big of a deal. But with your head wound, well, it's a little worse."

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked her suspiciously, scooting a little farther from the bars. I knew her comment was a trap! She would never help me. But how could I know poking something could do me so wrong…

"We're in cages. And I overheard a pompous prick bragging about us increasing their power by using a 'forbidden spell.' Whatever crows-begotten shit that means, I'm thinking it means us dying, so killing you won't mean much if I die right afterward. It would defeat the point of waiting all this time. And that girl had been hovering over you while you slept, didn't have the chance to do anything." Celeste said, then looked up at me with and cunning smile. "Besides, you seem to have a habit of surviving when you shouldn't. Sticking around you seems like a good way to complete all my goals." I gave her as blank of a look as I could manage while I thought, well, you can never say the bitch isn't honest.

She smiled at me; I would have called her cute if I didn't know her. Her figure was slim, but even with the armor on, you could see the hints of her figure. Her brunette hair was short and in a bob cut. But her eyes were cold. And in their depts, I could see a malicious hatred for me.

"Well, thanks for the honesty… I guess." I said.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"You welcome," She replied and tilted her head as if she was giving me the greatest of gifts.

“…Okay. So, we have to come up with a plan to get out of here… Or do you already have one? Do we have any Knights in here with us? Or the other cages?" I asked, eyeing everyone to ensure I didn't miss anyone on my quick pass over the occupants of the cage.

"No," said Sathera, "Every time we talk or try anything, they come over and knock us all out. They can make the disruption of the bars flood the entire cage…"

"Makes me wonder why they haven't shown up," Celeste said, flashing a malevolent smile at me before looking around. A shiver ran down my spine at the expectant look on her face.

I followed her example and looked around. And found no one coming at us in the night. I looked back at her and found she was frowning in disappointment. I gave her a mocking smile on impulse, then froze.

The beastkin guards weren't that far away. And if they came over whenever someone talked, then they could hear us where they’re at… And we have been talking for a while…

"You there, Kanieta?" I asked the air, getting strange looks from both of the women.

Nothing happened for a few long seconds, and my ears started to turn red from embarrassment. I saw Celeste open her mouth to no doubt mock me when a shadow detached itself from the wall and walked in between the two cages.

"You know, you lot talking this whole time isn't making this easy on me." Said the shadow with no tone.

I quickly looked at the two women and noticed a few of the others were stirring awake or openly watching. All of them were looking at the shadow in astonishment.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" I said, in fake dismay, "How could I think of planning an escape and inconvenience you? Of all people. I am so ashamed after our special night."

"You should be," said the shadow. "Now, would you like to know an interesting, relevant fact? Doesn't matter, I'm going to tell you. A few hundred years ago, the wolf clan was at war with the bear clan. The bear clan was winning, so the wolves were getting desperate. They needed a way to increase their power. And then, one of the mages had a thought, if we can refill the Olimpians' psy pools, why can't they refill ours."

My eyes narrowed at the shadow in annoyance as she, cause there was no way anyone else would intentionally put emotion into their voice for that one word. Think you're so funny, huh…

"With that one line of thought," Kanieta continued, "They began experimenting. Warbands scoured your lands, capturing everyone they found. Entire villages were taken and marched back to our homes. After thousands of experiments and several partial successes, they finally discovered more than they wanted. Through a complex spell," she waved her hand at the courtyard, indicating the many lines of writing on the large stone plate. "They found a way to suck your psy and the outer layer of your soul from your body. The process is long, agonizing, and designed for you to fight back. Your willpower allows the spell to refine and reshape your psy, allowing for better transfer efficiency and storage of our mana. Once you are wrung dry, the outer layer of your soul is pulled out, wrapped around the energy, mixed with mana, and compressed. The soul gem that is created can collect the ambient energy or be injected, holding the energy indefinitely. Gather enough soul gems, and even the weakest of mages can cast any spell."

"Ancestor, save us," I murmured in horror. And I knew that I was not alone in my thoughts. The air inside the cage had shifted, and waves of disgust and anger were palpable without me even trying to feel them. Most of those inside the cage had woken up during the speech, and they all looked at the shadowy figure like they wanted to jump at it and attack it now. We were all legion, after all. It was our job to protect.

And she had just told us of one of the legion's greatest failures. One we didn't even know of. And our deaths would aid their attempts to destroy our people. Anger is pretty reasonable.

“Ahh… there it is. And that is the reason the spell is forbidden."

"What?" I asked in confusion.

"Your reaction. The need to lash out at me despite me being the messenger. A messenger that is helping you. The power your people have is far more ingrained into your minds than you realize. Individuals among you might accept us using the spell. As a people, you will commit to a genocidal war to stop it. That spell will lead to our mutual destruction if used. And the fact Jolten thinks he can get away with using it is madness…" She trailed off her head, looking to the side slightly before snapping around. "The Elder is forcing my hand." She said, sneering at the word 'Elder,' "These cages have the weakness of only being able to contain so much psy before braking, and while you might not have enough to reach it normally, I have taken the liberty of lowering the limit considerably. Collectively, you should be able to break it now. I suggest doing it at noon and going over the bridge, but I could care less. Though, do you hear that noise?" The oppressive silence that I didn't even notice was lifted for a moment, and a roar of standing next to rapids filled the air. And not a small one. "That's the warband preparing to march. Your time is running out. Whatever you do, don't get caught."

For the first time, the shadow turned and seemed to fully face me, "I guess that the information won't reach the Triad in time?"

I gave her a cocky smile, saying with a shrug, "It might have; I was just a distraction."

"Oh," was all she said before vanishing, only for her voice to appear from nowhere, "that's good to know. I'll leave the spell up for a bit longer, enough for you all to talk."

**********

Kathren kept her eyes clamped shut. She hated this plan, but it was better than Instructor Green's plan.

The fact she came up with it and volunteered for it did not change her hatred.

Slowly, she sucked in a breath of air through the hollowed-out arrow shaft. Breathing too fast would make noise and get her caught if anyone was around.

Someone was around earlier, but that was hours ago, probably. They had to be gone now. "How long have we been here? It has to be nearly time, right?" She asked.

"I can still see light," Joxin sent back. "probably half an hour."

Kathren slowly breathed in through the tube and kept her eyes shut from the grit, always trying to get in.

"Now," Joxin finally sent after what felt like hours later.

Shifting the dirt and body above her, Kathren moved upward until she broke out on the surface.

Night had fully settled, and she clawed her way out of the dirt and tried to smack off the grime coating her.

From the hole, Joxin and Jim followed. None of them were smiling, and neither was she at finally getting out from the ground. Her lips didn't even twitch at Jim's name. Instructor Green and the trainees were probably dead, and they had to make it back.

"Let's go." Kathren sent, and the other nodded in agreement.